


five times donald duck sees red

by rainbowshoppe



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 13:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18235670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowshoppe/pseuds/rainbowshoppe
Summary: and several times he doesnt





	five times donald duck sees red

**Author's Note:**

> hi i love donald and he loves his kids

It's like this:  
  
It's when he's small and full of fury for no real reason. He  _has_ a reason, mind you, but no one else sees it as he sees it. It's the fact that even though Della and sometimes even Momma can understand, His Pop won't ever hear them out. And the one time he does, it catches Donald so off guard he'd lost his entire train of thought and wasn't even given a moment to recapture it. It's the first time he screamed so loud his voice grew hoarse and he was eating honey for the next week.  
  
It's when Della, loud and proud and over the moon with how smooth telling her twin she was trans went, comes back crying. He'd helped her calm down until she was resting tiredly and promptly stormed out of the room. Their Pop sat at the kitchen table, over his dumb books and wearing his stupid glasses and Donald holds it together for exactly as long as it takes for him to realize the man's ignoring him. The books get shredded and the lenses end up cracked and broken and under a heavy chest of drawers. When Pop finds out Momma had been sneaking him more honey, he switches it for molasses without her knowing. Donald refuses to use either to soothe his throat after that.  
  
It's when they're left with their uncle while their parents run off to who knows where and Donald doesn't let him say one word after Della tells. He's all righteous anger and threats and  _you'd better not say one goddamned thing_  and  _I'd sooner work a million jobs and live with her in some apartment than let her go through that shit again_ when Della puts a hand on his shoulder and he stops. The equal parts bemused and defensive look on Scrooge's face says all Donald needs to hear. He squints and stuffs his hands in his hoodie pockets and with a quiet and scratchy, "C'mon, Della," he pushes his way into McDuck Manor.  
  
It's when that stupid monster tried to hurt his sister. The energy usually ever expended at people or objects is finally making itself useful. Donald rips and roars and spits and quacks until he gets enough jabs in for Della and their weird relative to do the rest. When they exchange gifts later at midnight, Donald finds he can't really care that his guitar snapped in two.  
  
It's when Scrooge builds an entire rocketship and Della runs off to the moon and doesn't come back.  
  
And then it isn't when.  
  
It isn't when the kids hatch.  
  
It isn't when Louie gets himself stuck in a cabinet in a way he can barely understand, scared of the dark and of a scolding.  
  
It isn't when Dewey comes home with grades worse for wear and face scrunched up with a black eye.  
  
It isn't when Huey's been given the eighth detention within the last couple of months for being, "Mostly a joy to have in class, but much too distracting to the other students."  
  
It isn't when the other two stay at school, unwilling to leave even one of them behind.  
  
It's almost when Scrooge refuses to watch them while he tries to get his umpteenth job, but then it isn't.  
  
It's almost when Scrooge doesn't come back in time for Christmas with his kids when the old coot knows  _exactly_ how Donald feels about it, but then Louie gives him this look and he sighs and lets it go.  
  
It's almost when Gladstone wows all three of them with parlor tricks and he feels like they're slipping away from him. And then it is, for just a moment, to help all of them.  
  
It's never when he finds Huey curled up in a ball in their shared bunk bed, trying to be as small as possible.  
  
It's never when Dewey's practically doing a one-to-one recreation of him, complete with not being able to explain why after the fact and honeyed tea for the subsequent days.  
  
It's never when Louie asks him quietly for reassurance that he's neither a burden nor a waste of space.  
  
It's never when Webby talks a mile a minute, jovial as can be, and then seemingly out of nowhere apologizes until there's tears rimming her eyes.  
  
It's never when Scrooge leans on him and looks at the kids as they do what they do and says, "Ye did good, nephew."  
  
And it's never when he rests his weight on the guardrails, closes his eyes and soaks in the feeling and replies, voice clear for only moments, "You did too, Uncle Scrooge."

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! i love you!!  
> i love comments but please no criticism, positive or otherwise! ;w;  
> something short & sweet bc i Would die for donald and him finally getting to be his wonderful multidimensional and protective self has made me cry exactly 6 different times today and i love it. ducktales 2017 has lit up my life and im better for it  
> Edit cause im Dumb & forgot to say: della tells her dad & scrooge that shes trans! dad doesnt take it well but scrooge does cause scrooge mcduck says trans rights  
> Second edit: just added it to th fic bc i didnt think to do that for some reason? anyways scrooge mcduck still says trans rights


End file.
